We attended 4:00 Mass with Mary Beth's family and Dad. Mass starts at 4:00 but, of course, on Christmas Eve you have to get there very early to find a seat. Or, if you're like me and Tony...you arrive at 3:30 and kick your two sweet nephews out of their seats. Thanks Ryan and Jamie for giving up your seats for us.
Lily was as good as gold during Mass! I was a little surprised. Sitting still and quiet for almost 2 hours is not high on Lily's list of favorite things to do. So, I had brought a bag of snacks and quiet toys in case of "emergency" but didn't need them. However, I did break out the sippy cup of milk with about 15 minutes left to go in the service because I could tell Lily was reaching her limit.
It was such an amazing feeling to be sitting in Christmas Eve Mass holding Lily on my lap. It brought tears to my eyes. Honestly, so many things have brought tears of joy to my eyes during this holiday season. I was not the only one who was overcome by emotion. When we arrived at church Lily climbed onto Aunt BaBa's lap and I watched as Mary Beth's eyes filled with tears. I think all of us just couldn't believe that the little one we had waited and prayed for for so long was finally here with us.
Christmas Eve at Mary Beth and Ed's is always special and even more so this year. I always tease that Mary Beth is our family's Martha Stewart...minus the condescending attitude and the jail time! Seriously though, Mary Beth is amazing and any occasion she hosts is always memorable.
As our family has grown over the years we have started to pick names to determine who to buy a gift for. Normally, everyone (children and adults) are included in this. However, this year my siblings and father decided that they would all buy gifts for Lily. Wow! Lily received such beautiful and thoughtful gifts and we needed to rent a semi to bring them all home!
Lily is normally in bed by 7:30 and was definitely starting to melt down at Aunt BaBa's. So, we rushed everyone to finish up their dinners so we could get to the gift opening portion of the evening. It's interesting...we had lots of presents under our tree and Lily never touched them. I don't think she really got what they were. The same was true at Aunt BaBa's. When Christina handed Lily her first gift she didn't know quite what to make of it...but once Lily got the hang of tearing off the paper...she was a gift opening machine! I'm not sure what was Lily's favorite part...opening the packages or putting the paper in the trash bag. I think it was a pretty even tie!
In fact, Lily had so much fun "helping" everyone open their packages and doing clean up that we ended up staying much later than we anticipated. Luckily for Lily this meant she was able to sample Uncle Ed's famous sugar cookies. Ed manages to make his cookies so thin and delicate and delicious at the same time. Lily loved them and was walking around with one in each hand!
Lily didn't get to bed until after 9:00 on Christmas Eve but I don't think she minded!
We had an incredible first Christmas as a family of 3! Everything was wonderful and I just can't believe it is already just a very happy and special memory. I've been on the computer way too long already so I will post about our actual Christmas Day tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment